Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor recently spoke a word of charity for video games, telling ABC News in an interview that the medium's a "fabulous" way to get children to learn.

O'Connor was, of course, describing educational games, not Red Dead Redemption, when she said that games can help children learn more about history and civics. But she did toss around figures, like 20 percent, describing gains kids make in learning performance just by playing them.

Hey, I'll take it. Better than a politician making hay from a strawman argument about kids spending too much time with them.

Actually, O'Connor cited a recent study fixing middle-schoolers' screen time - TV or computers - at roughly 40 hours a week, calling it an opportunity. "If we can capture just part of that time, a little bit of it, to get 'em in front of a computer screen to play these games, they're going to learn," she said.
Justice O'Connor Hails Games As 'Fabulous' Teaching Tools [Gamasutra]